Fiftieth Celebration of the Danbury PE building

On Wednesday, October 3, 2018 there was a celebration at the former Perkin-Elmer building on Wooster Heights road in Danbury, CT. Approximately 100 alumni of PE and wives attended. It was to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the opening of the building in April 1968 that was to be exclusively used for the development of the Hexagon KH-9 reconnaissance satellite.

Eventually the building was expanded to accommodate the Hubble Space Telescope and other programs.

People gathered in the cafeteria for finger foods. James Outzen of the NRO (National Reconnaissance Office) spoke about Hexagon and there were several tours of portions of the building including the machine shop, polishing room and Hi-bay areas. No souvenirs. As expected the best part was interactions between colleagues who haven’t seen each other in a long time.  

Here are just a few photos of bricks planted in the ground near the flagpole with the names of Perkin-Elmer Alumni.